[ET Net News Agency, 29 October 2019] Goldman Sachs lowered its target price for
Tsingtao Brewery (00168) to HK$58.1 from HK$60 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said Tsingtao's 3Q sales and operating profit were largely in line
with Goldman's estimate. The company maintained stable spending in selling and marketing
while at the same time reduced its admin costs by 8%.
Goldman sees this set of results as reflecting Tsingtao's focus on product mix upgrades
and cost-efficiency. It remains confident in the overall premiumization trend in China
beer space, despite some near-term volatility due to the night-life channel softness.
Looking ahead, Goldman still looks for a 6% premium beer volume growth for Tsingtao in
2020/21. It raised its EPS by 4-5% in 2019-21 mainly to reflect lower sales growth and
lower effective tax rate. (KL)